Electrical indicating system



W. A. LURIE.

ELECTRICAL INDICATING SYSTEM.

I APPLICATION FILED NOV. I7, 1919. 1,416,485.

Patented May 16, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

OUTSIDE dalza" W. A. LURIE.

ELECTRICAL INDICATING SYSTEM.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 17, 1919. 1,- L16A85. Patented May 16,

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

fi e@ ;i -J

UNITED STAT S WILLIAM A. LURIE, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

ELECTRICAL INDICATING SYSTEM.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 16, 1922.

Applicationflleil November 17, 1919. Serial No. 338,660.

To all whom may concern:

Be it known that l, WILLIAM A. LURIE, a citizen of the United States,residing in New Orleans, parish of Orleans, and state of My, inventionis especially useful and desirable in hotels, dorrnatories, or otherinstitutions where it is desired to know at any time if a guest orroomer has unlocked or locked his door from the outside, that is,whether or not he is out or in his room, it being presumed that if thedoor has been. unlocked from the outside the guest is in and that if thedoor has been locked from the oustide the guest is out.

. Heretofore it has been impossible for a person, for example the deskclerk or the telephone operator in a hotel, to be sure whether or not aguest is in his room, or

whether he has gone to his room after-[he has called for his key at thedesk. Such information could only be gained by sending a boy or bytelephoning to the room. In case of accident or illness or otherconditions, it is not alwayspossible for a guest to answer his telephoneor veven -ansnver a knock at the door. lln my improved system thecontrol of the central indicator is without any additional eflort on thepart of the guest or roorner, the insertion and turning of the door keyin the ordinary manner controlling a circuit for causing the pro-pef'registration on the indicating device. linsertion of the key from theoutside and unlocking of the door will cause the correspondingindicating device to indicate In, and then when the, guest leaves andinserts the key from the outside and turns it to lock the device Willindicate Out. Thus by t e usual and necessary operation of locking andunlocking the door the guest automatically, without any mental or extraphysical effort on his part, controls an electrical circuit whichcauses-the proper indication to be given at the central board.

()n the accompanying drawing- Fig. 1 is a. side elevational view of adoor lock with partof the door in section, and also diagrammaticallyshowing the electrical circuit.

, Fig. 2 is a sectional view on plane 2--2, Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a plan elevational view of an electro-magnetic indicatingdevice,

Fig. 4c is a side elevational view of such elcctro-magnetic device,

Fig. 5 is a front view of the device enclosure, and

Fig. 5 is a diagrammaticview representing the circuit connection betweenthe various parts of the system.

Referring first to F'g. 6, 0; represents a central board on which aremounted the various indicating devices Z). From each of these devices acircuit 0 extends to one of the doors at of the building to be served. Abattery 6 serves as a common source for electrical current for thevarious circuits. The circuit 0 is extended in any suitable manner tothe lock f of the door in which look ter minal contacts are providedwith which the lock key ,co-operates to close the circuit. its shown inFig. 6 the circuit includes the hinges g of the door, so that the swinging of the door will not interfere with the continuity of the circuit.

In Figs. 8, t and5 the construction of the indicators 7) is clearly.shown. Each comprises a base 10 on which an electromagnet 11 of suitableconstruction is mounted. In the arrangement shown the cores 12 of theelectro-magnet extend vertically and are bridged over by the armature 13which is carried by the L shaped spring 14 secured at its lower end tothe electro-magnet supporting frame 15. Extending upwardly from thisframe in front of the electro-magnet are the bearing supports 16 annd 17for a shaft 18 on which is mounted the'indicatingdrum 19 havingalternately the indications In and Out thereon. The removable cover orclosure 20 for protecting the indicator limited by the engagement of itstront end 25 wit-h the spring 1e. Pivoted on the frame 15 below theratchet wheel is the detent pawl 26 which is yieldingly held against theratchet wheel by the spring 27. Whenever the electro-magnet is energizedits armature 13 is drawn downwardly and the pawl 23 co-operates with theratchet wheel to turn the shaft a distance sufficient to rotate the drum19 to bring the next indicating legend within the sight opening so thatthe indications ln and Out are alternately displayed as the drum isrotated. After each rotation the detent pawl locks the ratchet wheel andthe drum in its adjusted position. Upon breaking of the circuit thearmature is released and the spring 14 raise the pawl 23 to its upperposition into. engagement with the next tooth ready for the next circuitclosure and attraction of the armature to effect another rotationalshift of the indieating drum. The conductors of the circuit 0 areconnected to suitable binding posts 28 and 29 with which theelectro-magnet windings are also connected by their terminals 30 and 31.

in igs. l and 2 the details of the locks and circuit control are plainlyshown. The lock f is set into the pocket 72, of the door in the usualmanner. As the lock members within the lock frame do not form part of myinvention it is not necessary to show them. In my indicating system thelock key s the controlling member. The lock which is usually of metalforms one terminal of the circuit a, one end of the circuit beingconveniently connected with thelock frame by the screw 71 forming partof the lock. As the key when inserted and turned is in contact with themetallic part oi the lock the key will therefore form the real terminalof the circuit. The other end terminal of the circuit is connected withany suitable contact mechanism y secured in the path of the key butinsulated tromthe lock and. also insulated from the key except when thekey is n a certain position. The terminal mechan1sm shown comprises aplate 32 with the barrel 33 thereon, a compression spring 34.

within the barrel pressing against the contact ball 35. The plate 32 issecured by the screws .36 to the lock frame above the key hole in-"sulation 37 being suitably applied to entirely insulate the terminalstructure from the lock. Tn the base of the barrel 33 is the opening 38of slightly less diameter than that of the i, lien-ea contact ball 35 sothat the ball can be projected a distance beyond the opening but cannotbe entirely pushed th.erethrough. The ball is in the path. of a contactpin 39 extending from the shank of the key 70. The contact pin is sopositioned relative to the tongue 40 of the key that when the key isturned to lock or unlock the door the pin will wipe across the contactball and the circuit 0 will be momentarily closed and the correspondingindicating device will be actuated. When the key is turned to unlock thedoor thenthe indicator will be actuated to indicate In at the sightopening and when the key is turned to lock the door the indicator willindicate Out. The contact mechanism at the lock is arranged to controlthe circuit only when the key is inserted in the lock from the outsideof the door and turned. When the key is inserted in the lock "from theinside of the door it will have no connection whatever with the circuit.Tt

is only when the key is inserted from the Y outside and turned tolooking or unlocking position that the circuit is affected. W hen theindicator indicates Tn it is presumed that the guest has unlocked hisdoor from the outside, entered his room and is then in the room. If theindicator indicates Uut it is presumed that the guest has locked hisdoor from the outside and is not in the room.

My improved system is very simple and easily installed. Just a simpleattachment to the lock and to the key produces simple and efficientcircuit controlling mechanism. The attachment will in no wise interferewith the proper working of the door locks nor require any extra actionor undue 'atten tion on the part of anyone. The circuit is controlled bythe mere insertion of the key from the outside of the door and turningthereof to either lock or unlock the door and such looking or unlockingwill be indicated at the indicating board.

Where in the subjoined claim the term step-by-step is employed,signifies that a step pmgression (and not a recession following eachsingle step) ensues. For ex;- ample, the indicator Figs. 3 and t is astepby-step indicator, its index drum progress ingby step advances, asfully set forth hereinbeitore.

ll do not desire to be limited to the exact construction arran "ementand ooeration shown and described as changes and modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit of the invention.

I claim as "follows:

Tn combination with a door and means for locking and unlocking the same,of a revolving member having a plurality of indicia thereon representingthe locking of the door from. the outside and a plurality of otherindicia thereon representing the unlocking of the door from the outside,alternate indicia being the same, electromagnetic means for moving saidmember step by step in the same direction a distance corresponding to asingle indication and means actu ated by either the locking or theunlocking of the door from the outside for causing said WILLIAM A.LURIE.

